ECS GF8200A Motherboard Review – GeForce 8200

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

ECS did a wonderful job with this board. I am just gonna cut to the chase on the conclusion, because anything else I would say now would just be repeated in my normal format.

Performance on this board was just as good, and sometimes better than the two boards that we tested. In all actuality, you will be hard pressed to see much difference in any of the machines as you used them.

The layout and setup of the board was perfect. We had no issues with the board at all when setting the board up from scratch. The layout was well thought out, and should give the end user no issues at all.

What bundle? ‘Nough said!

The price of this board is averaging right at $75, which is just incredible when you remember the other two boards come in at $145 and $190. Do you get more “stuff” with the other boards? Yes! Do you need it? That is something only you can answer.

There is one other thing that we need to consider. The specs for this board say that the ECS 8200A motherboard supports CPUs up to 95W TDP. That means that we are out of luck IF we have, or want to have one of the 125W TDP processors. With the 95W TDP, that leaves out a few Phenom CPUs including the X4 9750, X4 9850 BE, X4 9950, and the Phenom II X4 920, 940 and 945. This is certainly not a deal killer for this board, but is something that you need to know as you make your purchases.

Legit Bottom Line: ECS may have been targeting the lower end market with this board, but with its price, and the performance it offers, it becomes very attractive to anyone looking to upgrade… especially in tough economic times!